TSUN Sharp Objects

Today a rescue took place.

Ever seen one of these?

My family always used them to store tailgate supplies or college dorm stuff.

David and I rented our first climate-controlled storage facility at the end of this summer to store all of our belongs. I was headed there this afternoon to drop off some wedding presents we've received in the past month, pay our monthly "rent," and search for my beloved cowbell. With the start of the football season approaching, and it being the first time ever for cowbells to be legalized, I decided I needed to bring my childhood bell out of retirement. Since MSU started cracking down so hard on cowbells the past couple of years, I've been putting it in and out of retirement constantly. Basically this means for important games such as Alabama, LSU, and TSUN, it comes out of retirement, but for little schools, it doesn't. Since I will proudly be able to walk into Scott Field with bell in plain sight for the first time in my life, I decided it was worth diving through all of THIS to find it:

I'm not quite sure how it got packed to begin with. I was asked to move out of my apartment 10 days before my wedding. Thus began a mad dash at attempting to quickly pack an apartment. Needless to say, I neither wrote down or categorized anything! Which can make for a difficult rescue when locating something the size of a cowbell in this chaos.

However, after moving around a bunch of things and digging through a few containers, the lost bell was found! Hallelujah! It was wrapped in an old Reflector, and I was so excited that I found it. By the way, see that orange container in the top right? It was in the silver one right underneath it. Yay! Cowbell rescued! Now this is a bell with history! I received it when I was three years old from my grandparents. That means it's 21 years old (approximately). When I came to college, I wanted a new one, but my mom talked me out of it. Hence, the XO sticker placed on the back of it. (The ribbon and chi o pin are just for decoration when it's in retirement!) Isn't it beautiful!?

So, you may be wondering a.) why did she take all of these pictures? and b.) TSUN Sharp Objects? I'm getting there...

I took all these pictures because I intended to post about how God was teaching David and I (more so me then David) that stuff is just that....stuff. We don't need it, and ours all fits in a tiny space crammed in boxes. Nevermore has Matthew 6:19-20 meant more to me.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal."

So much for my post about that.

I got a little excited seeing all of my "stuff" and started pulling out some things that I wanted to take with me...A Beth Moore bible study, notecards, a few other things. All of a sudden, I saw gushing blood. Yes that's right gushing. And while my hubby and mother probably think I'm lying, ask the men at the storage place. They'll tell you! I realized I had poked something sharp and was now gushing blood out of my finger. I tried to put up what I could amidst boxes. Let's just say it wasn't near as organized as it had been in the top picture. In the middle of being trapped and trying to catch the gushing blood, the lights (which are on a timer) shut off. Shut off! I decided I had to get out!

When I finally made it to the office, I was frustrated and couldn't stop the blood. I told them what happened. That I'd been diving to save my cowbell. They laughed and the younger guy (who had a first aid kit in his truck by the way) said "that must have been one sharp Ole Miss object!" (I edited to TSUN for the title). Such a good bulldog fan! I headed out towards home. Two minutes into my trek home, I noticed my finger was bleeding through the band aid! REALLY? Every time I bent it, it gushed. Holding it straight helped. I called David and told him to find our first aid kit and something to splint my finger with! This is what I came home to!

And the finished bandaged product complete with tongue depressor underneath:
So that was my eventful afternoon. If it truly was a TSUN object (because I still don't know what I hit), at least Masoli can't play for them this season!

I'll end with a picture of our family bells. The two in the middle are my parent's bells. Mom's has cracked so many times that the last time it was re-welded (long before I was born), the person used brass. Now it has a distinct ring! The gold one is Daniel's. It cracked last year and had to be re-welded with brass as well. It was only used for the Egg Bowl last year. I'm sure it will be more worn after this year. As you notice, David's bell isn't shown. That's because IT cracked last year, and is currently at the doctor for re-welding with yep, you guessed it, brass! Should be ready in time for Saturday though! Bring on football season! And freedom for all cowbells....for now anyway!

Weekend Fun

David and I had the most relaxing weekend ever! We calculated and this was the FIRST weekend that we enjoyed with no traveling plans or somewhere to be outside of Starkville. Literally EVERY weekend since we got married we have been in Brandon, Memphis, or somewhere else! So we had so much fun NOT traveling anywhere!

We had the chance to babysit for one of our favorite families Friday night. We love our Lovings! This family means so much to us. Matt serves as one of the pastors at Crosspoint and Jenny is just incredible. And if the parents are amazing, you know the kids are too! We didn't keep Carson this time. He spent the night next door with his two buddies. So you can imagine the fun that we had with THREE girls. And I know what you're thinking, they were all over me! Actually, they were all over DAVID! They love him. It's probably because he does silly things to make them laugh, but trust me, they'd rather hang out with him any day if given the choice between the two of us! We started off our evening with some of this:


Last time we kept the Lovings Ava told her mom that they better eat pizza before we got there or else David would eat it all and there would be none left for them! Haha!


This is Isabelle, the youngest Loving. She didn't desire to pose for the camera.


This is Ava. The cutest curly red headed little girl in the world! Also the accuser of David eating all of the pizza!

And this is Tessa. I couldn't get a picture of her when she wasn't on top of or near David. She loves us being there, but especially David. I think it's because she thinks he's a jungle gym!


After trying to "wake" David up. He was "sleep walking." I told them they had to tell him a funny joke. I'll try to edit this post later and load the video. For some reason it won't load right now. It's pretty hilarious!


And finally, Tessa on David's shoulders. Ava and Tessa both love this game!

We had a great night with the three Loving girls. We usually have no bedtime with them, but by 9:15pm Ava and Isabelle were asleep. Tessa managed to stay awake until her parents got home, but wasn't far behind the other two! I think we wore them out! Pizza, watching Alvin and the Chipmunks, playing "wake up David," jumping on his shoulders, popping popcorn, and many other things all made for a fun night with the girls!

Saturday we slept in which I don't think we've done since our honeymoon! Speaking of honeymoon, I think I'll end this post with a few glimpses ! (so stay tuned) We spent the day relaxing, and finished it with our first attempt to grill together. We had chicken, green beans, and peas. I WISH I had taken pictures of the wonderful meal we threw together. It started raining towards the end of grilling, but David improvised and cooked under the porch. We finished Saturday night with chocolate chip cookies and listening to one of our Downline sessions. (more info on that to come in the next few days).

Sunday was a refreshing day that started with church and was followed by lunch with some of our very good friends, the McIntoshs. Alex, Chelsea, David, and I stayed until 2:30 pm laughing and visiting. It's so wonderful to have great friends nearby. Our new lifegroup kicked off Sunday night. We're studying David Platt's book called Radical, and we're really excited about gaining wisdom from people who've been married a lot longer then we have!

All in all, we had a wonderful relaxing weekend! Which is a good thing too since next weekend kicks off the start of Mississippi State Football! Can't wait for all of our friends to come to town!

For some reason I haven't uploaded ANY honeymoon pictures! So I thought I'd post some. We had a wonderful honeymoon to St. Lucia. It was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful! It was such a fun trip and we came back with so many new memories!

On the plane leaving Atlanta! (on board with many other people with the same wedding anniversary as us!):


We went on a hike one day. This is the view overlooking from the top. Isn't it GORGEOUS!? Those red rectangles in the middle right is the roof of our resort. This is looking over Rodney Bay. We were at Captain Rodney's fort. If you know us, we laughed at the thought that it might be the same guy who has his namesake on bottles of Captain Rodney's boucan glaze and is responsible for Captain Rodney's cheese bake. I'll post that recipe sometime! It's to DIE for! :) Yum!
Looking over Rodney Bay on our hike:

After a morning in the sun, we came back up to our room while a small rain shower passed through and took some pictures on our balcony. This was our beautiful view.
My hubby on our balcony.

Dinner one night at a beach restaurant. The waiters were so nice to take pics for us!
Eating at the fabulous French restaurant!

Our last day in the sun! We stayed on the beach all day under the cabanas and palm tree umbrellas and both got super sunburned! So much for being shielded from the sun!


Our last evening on the beach. It was a beautiful sunset, but the picture doesn't show it!

Hope you enjoyed lots and lots of pictures! Until next time....

Rollercoaster of Love

I'm officially one of the world's worst bloggers! Really and truly, if I HAD been a good blogger and was updating our blog daily I would have literally posted something different everyday.

Lately, we seem to have a theme song to our marriage. And it goes something like this...

"Rollercoaster of love. Rollercoaster. Ooh ooh ooh ooh."

I really only know that one lyric of the entire song so forgive me if it has bad references in it that I don't know about! It just popped in my head, and I thought, "how appropriate!" It really feels like David and I have been on the biggest roller coaster of faith with God this past month. But we are in love on that rollercoaster. So we're on a "rollercoaster of love." Excuse the cheesiness! (I hate rollercoasters by the way!) Our plans change daily. And God is reminding us daily that it is He who is in control of ALL things. The big and the small. He has all the details under control.

But for two kids who just got married, it is tough to fully trust Him that it will all work out. It is a struggle to remember that even when the world feels like it's caving in, His plans are still the best and they are so worth waiting for. I know God can accomplish His plans in other ways for His glory, but we want to be a part of what He has planned. We want to wait on Him, but that doesn't make it easy! I'm so glad that David and I have each other during this time to remind each other of the promises He has made to us. And we're both so thankful for the people who serve as our "prayer warriors." No matter how many times I send you a note to tell you of our ever changing plans and ask you to pray, you respond with such encouragement. There is no doubt in our minds that God put you in our lives for a reason. God has used so many of you to help strengthen our faith in Him. I have struggled with updating our blog about the transient stage we are in, but then I realized we could use it as a tool to ask you to pray.

I'm honestly not sure what to ask you to pray for. Maybe God can direct your prayers better then I can as He is continually changing ours. A very wise woman and friend told me earlier in this journey that she and her husband never feel closer to God then when they are going through a trying time, and because of the path He walks them through in brokenness, they are never closer to one another. And it is so true of us right now.

For right now, all that is clear is that today we are in Starkville. God has kept us planted here for a reason, and as another friend shared with me the other day, God calls us to grow where we are planted. So we will, until He thinks it's time to move us to a new place to be planted. I keep thinking about flowers that are planted inside in a comfortable tiny pot because they are too small to survive outside in the "elements." And then, when they are old enough and grown enough, they are transferred outside to grow into something magnificent. They often don't make up the entire yard. Instead, they are a small detail in a beautiful masterpiece. They play their part well. Maybe we just haven't grown enough in our "comfortable little pot" called Starkville. God has more to teach us here. We'd rather spend more time growing where we are right now so that God can plant us when He's ready and use us in his masterpiece. I'm working to finish my master's degree. David finished his MBA in August and is looking for a job. He is also looking to substitute teach in Starkville while he waits on the job God has for him.

I'll keep you posted. Until then, keep us in your prayers!

Pickwick Vacation

I just realized I'm doing a bad job of updating our blog! It's harder then it looks! We haven't really had any terribly exciting adventures and I cannot remember to take my camera with me ANYWHERE so of course we don't get any pictures. Blog posts without pictures just don't seem right!

Luckily, I did come away with a few pictures from this past weekend. David and I traveled to Pickwick, TN for his family's annual vacation with another family. The men spend their mornings golfing and the women lay by the pool, read, and relax. Then the afternoons are spent on the boat with skiing and tubing for everyone except not-so-brave me. I love riding on the boat, just not risking my life with water sports! We left on Saturday to meet the guys for a morning of golf. The women usually come later on Saturday, but since we were coming from Starkville I came along early. That meant killing four hours in Corinth and meeting the boys for lunch later. I could have gone golfing, yes, but WHO would want to be out in the 125 degree heat? Seriously now! Y'all know me better than that!

And so began my four hour journey of Corinth! I went to Belk and killed an hour. It was tax free weekend and David and I had already ordered him some clothes from Belk online the day before. You cannot find this man's size ANYWHERE except online! That's what I get for marrying a 6 ft 5 inch guy! :) So I truly killed time in Belk! Nothing that I really needed. Although since David's and my deal is that I get a pair of shoes when he plays golf, I did buy a $10 pair of shoes. What can I say? I love shoes! And yes mom, you'll be glad to know that I threw away a pair! Just for you! I walked around downtown and went into the cute shops in Corinth. I like window shopping! Then I went to Books-A-Million and decided I needed to get a book to read on this trip. With it being so gosh dang hot out, the girls spent most of our mornings in the air conditioner! Glad I found the perfect book....The Help. If you haven't read it, get it! It is by FAR my favorite book I've read since the Twilight series! It's set in Jackson, MS and a lot about civil rights in MS. I read all 446 pages in 3.5 days. I couldn't put it down (except to go out on the boat of course). And because I love posts with pictures, this is what it looks like:


After Books-a-million came Wal-Mart, followed by Cellular South. And because I know you don't want to know all of the details of those two trips, I'll just say I bought cereal and had my cell phone upgraded to Android 2.1.

On to Pickwick....

We spent a lot of time relaxing (and reading). And eating! It will take forever for David and I to work off all of the calories we took in this weekend, but it was well worth it. We visited the Adams' and Bailey's favorite restaurant The Catfish Hotel on Sunday night. David's dad has been eating there since he was a kid coming with his family growing up. And we wore our bright red t-shirts Mrs. Patti had made. The two families were celebrating 20 years of coming to Pickwick. I'm sad that I didn't get a picture of the backs of the tshirt, and I guess I could go grab mine out of the dirty clothes pile that I'm working my way through, but I'm pretty sure it's in the washing machine now. The back had a bunch of words that were unique and special to the trip. I'd post them, but you probably wouldn't understand! (I don't know what some of them are since I've only been going the past 3 years). The Catfish Hotel was on there though and all of the waitresses at the restaurant thought that was really neat!

David and I at Catfish Hotel

David's Brother Jesse

David's Mom and Dad

Us with Pickwick in the Background

Not only where there t-shirts, but some funny videos from way back when. It is always fun to see David when he was a little kid growing up! The stories these two families have on him (and his siblings) on this trip are priceless. We can't wait to go back next year!

We ended the vacation with a birthday party for David's sister Danielle. She turned 17 on Tuesday, and we all went to a Mexican restaurant at Pickwick to celebrate! After dinner, we had cake and the nice Mexican waiters brought out the sombrero and fried tortilla with cinnamon and sugar (don't know what it's called). They sang happy birthday and of course put the whipped cream in her face. David and I gave her a cowbell since we're pretty sure she'll be headed this way next August for college. One can never be sure, but we weren't trying to sway her decision at all! (SSSUUUURRRREEE!) I still remember when I got my cowbell. I'm pretty sure I was three and it was from my grandparents. Needless to say, I still ring it. It got retired a few years ago because I was worried about sneaking it in. It will be back this fall! Can't wait to see how many old school cowbells come out just because no one will try to take them. Wonder if my parents will bring in their really cool ones from their college days? And just because I feel like this post needs more pictures, I'll leave you with this:

30 days till football season! WOO HOO!


And now it's time to get back to work...my lunch "break" is over! David and I still don't have definite plans for now to update you on. We're still in Starkville, for now. Would love it if you come and visit us! And would for sure appreciate your prayers!